Patrol to focus on impaired drivers over holidays

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s State Highway Patrol says its enforcement efforts this holiday season will focus on removing impaired drivers from the roads to reduce fatal and injury crashes.

The patrol said in a release Thursday that nine people were killed in nine crashes during the four-day Christmas holiday in 2017, with three people killed in crashes related to driving under the influence.

Col. Paul Pride, the patrol’s superintendent, says troopers see an increase in impaired driving during the holiday season.

The patrol says there were 288 fatal crashes in the first 11 months of 2018 related to driving under the influence. Those crashes resulted in the deaths of 311 people. In the same time period, troopers have made more than 24,500 arrests for driving under the influence.